Draft Mode Tanking Guide
Tank Role Tanks are always a desired role in group-oriented content. They are designed to be able to withstand blows and engage enemies others might deem too dangerous. Instead of focusing on dealing the most damage to enemies or healing allies, tanks focus on survivability and ability to withstand a beating. You might be interested in starting a tank if you enjoy engaging enemies first, holding the attention of enemies, being difficult to kill, and have a thorough knowledge of encounters. A successful tank should be able to accomplish three main objectives: # Hold Aggro, threat, or the attention of mobs or enemy combatants # Mitigate incoming damage to self and/or allies # Know encounters, pulls, engagements, and related strategies. All of our draft mode starts will aim to fulfill these objectives, or get close to them as possible. Some tanks may want to specialize in either single or group enemy encounters, taking abilities that match their play-style. Draft Mode Meta Tanks There are two main types of "meta" tanks on Project Ascension. # Defensive Stance tanks (also known as "D-Stance" or "classic/traditional") # Bear Form tanks (also known as "Bear" or "Druid") They take their namesake from the abilities which grant them increased defensive capabilities and increased threat generation. The rest of this guide will be broken into various starting strategies and key abilities to look out for in these "meta" builds. There are "non-meta" or "hipster" tank varieties unique to Project Ascension which will be mentioned towards the bottom. Keep in mind that public perception of the viability of "non-meta" tanking builds may impact your grouping experience, but their unique play-styles may be just the right fit for you! Defensive Stance Tanks These tanks utilize the Defensive Stance ability (pictured right) to provide a means of threat generation and damage mitigation. The powerful 10% mitigation provided by Defensive Stance and the 70% increased threat generation makes this start a classic. Since defensive stance tanks need not leave defensive stance to use other abilities like a bear tank might, they are generally very flexible while leveling and are able to weave in abilities from other classes more freely. Core Starting Abilities # Defensive stance. You must have defensive stance to be a d-stance tank. When optimally drafting for defensive stance, it is recommended to "reroll" your draft selection if defensive stance is not offered as one of the three options in the first selection. This is because certain other key abilities are unable to be drafted until you have defensive stance (i.e. "locked behind" defensive stance). If defensive stance is offered as one of the three first options, it will always appear as the first (leftmost) of those three options (making it significantly easier to filter through and find a viable start). # Taunt. For most raid boss encounters, you will need to swap threat or acquire threat quickly on new targets. Taunt offers a guaranteed way for you to accomplish this task. Although there are several other Taunt-like abilities which share a cooldown with Taunt (like Distracting Shot, Righteous Defense, etc) which you may be able to pick up later on, Taunt is always a strong pickup for a tank start. If you are not considering tanking raids or are more focused on open world or small-group content, you may not need a Taunt or a Taunt-like ability. Taunt is off the Global Cooldown (GCD) and is also a ranged ability. You must have Defensive Stance before being able to roll Taunt. # Thunder Clap. This ability is a strong method for acquiring threat on, slowing the attack speed of, and dealing damage to multiple enemies or in Area of Effect (AoE) scenarios. The legendary Random Enchant (RE) "Crackling Thunder" causes your Thunder Clap to leave an effect on the ground which deals pulsing AoE lightning damage with a built-in threat multiplier. The combination of Thunder Clap & Crackling Thunder is powerful for maintaining AoE threat and is a staple in any Defensive Stance tank. You must have Defensive Stance (or Battle Stance) before being able to roll Thunder Clap. Classic Sword & Board In Project Ascension, all shields have an inherent 15% multiplier to threat generation at the cost of 10% reduced spell damage and healing. Shields also offer the ability to block, a powerful defensive tool for mitigating many small hits, as well as a large amount of armor. Classic S&B tanks seek to use shields as an additional method for reducing incoming damage. S&B tanks can pick up Shield block at level 1 for a damage mitigation cooldown. Look out for Shield Slam (40), Avenger's Shield (50 talent), and Holy Shield (40 talent) as powerful pickups while you level a S&B since they are not available at level 1. S&B tanks excel in large AoE scenarios where many enemies are dealing small hits, like the whelps in Onyxia's Lair. Defense rating, a stat commonly found on many tank gear pieces, offers bonuses to blocking and can help scale the power of your blocks along with numerous talents, REs, and block rating stat. Itemization and gearing for S&B is generally easier than other tanks because of the limited use of shields outside of Tanking. Shield Block is a good additional starting ability if you want to become a S&B tank. 2h Parry Tanking Unique to Project Ascension is the 2h Parry tank. They get their name from wielding a 2h weapon instead of a 1h & shield. Often compared to Blood Death Knights from retail WotLK, 2h tanks focus on mitigation through self-healing (from abilities like Bloodthirst and Victory Rush) and parry in order to mitigate incoming damage. Integral to a parry tank is the talent "Tactical Mastery" (Arms Warrior Tree, Level 15, Right side) which offers threat bonuses to Bloodthirst & Mortal Strike while simultaneously granting increased Stamina (health total), armor, and reduced damage taken. Because they do not have a shield, 2h tanks have no block and often less armor than S&B variants. Itemization for a 2h tank can also be more difficult, as weapons which are good for you are often also good for 2h melee dps. 2h tanks are a blast to solo with, as you can often sustain yourself while farming groups or individual monsters and have a larger damage output due to the damage inherent to wielding a 2h. If you are considering starting as a 2h tank, you may want to pick up Victory Rush as a means of self sustain. Keep in mind the talent "Deflection" (Arms Warrior tree, Level 10, Middle) offers a means of using Victory Rush when you parry, allowing it to be used in encounters where you are not dealing the killing blow. Since 2h tanks do not use shields, they do no suffer the 10% reduction in spell damage and healing penalty from wielding a shield. This makes them well suited to hybrid spellcaster-melee builds, as they are more open to weaving spells like consecration or arcane explosion into their rotation than S&B is. Additional Starting Abilities You may want to consider starting with some of the following abilities as a Defensive Stance tank due to their utility: # Charge. This ability offers a strong means of initial engagement and mobility. Because Charge generates rage, a common "1-2" combo for Defensive Stance tanks is to Charge a group of mobs (engaging them and generating rage) followed by spending this generated rage for a Thunder Clap to hold threat on the group. Charge goes a long way to making a tank feel smooth. Mob throw you up in the air or stomp you off a ledge? Charge right back into melee range and continue the fight! # Frost Armor. This ability not only offers an increase to armor, but also slows the movement and attack speed of monsters who attack you. Since you are the tank, this will be up almost constantly on everything that you have threat on. In practice, there are other methods of slowing monsters which are more powerful than the 15% movement speed slow of Frost Armor and other sources of 20% attack speed slow (like talented Thunder Clap) which do not stack with the Frost Armor effect. However, this skill still offers a lot for a single passive ability! # Righteous Fury. When talented, this ability can provide 6% passive damage reduction for the efficient cost of 3 talent essence. In addition, the bonus to threat generation can help with maintaining threat against players who push the limits of damage. Although not as effective for non-holy schools, it is strong for any tank who is undergeared or is struggling to hold threat. # Evasion. This ability offers a strong defensive mitigation cooldown, with the provided 50% dodge making most tanks capped on Dodge/Parry such that no enemy attack will land. Talented for 4% stamina and reduced cooldown makes this a no brainer for any tank who wants another cooldown for mitigating incoming attacks. Against hordes of whelps or mindless ghouls, this is effectively 10 (12 at higher ranks) seconds of immunity. Evasion does not affect spells, which cannot be dodged, or damage over time effects so keep that in mind when deciding the best time to use it. # Summon Imp. Your friendly demonic companion offers an additional stamina aura as well as a fire shield which reflects damage back to attackers. The damage of your imp is minimal later in the game, but can assist with pulling or soaking mechanics in select scenarios. The only downside is there is a strong likelihood that someone else in your group may have an imp due to their use in caster dps, making the stamina aura and reflective shield less valuable as a whole. # Heroic Strike. Although less useful for 2h tanks, heroic strike offers a threat-generative rage dump which is off the GCD and can be macroed into most of your rotation. Functioning stronger with faster weapons, this is a powerful option for those who are struggling with single target threat or wish to focus on single target encounters. Keep in mind this replaces your auto attack, so effects like Reckoning (Protection Paladin Tree, Level 30, Right) and Windfury which grant bonuses on auto attacks or additional autos are not compatible with Heroic Strike. With the correct REs and talents, it can even be reduced to 0 rage cost, allowing every auto to be a Heroic Strike! Bear Form Tanks These tanks utilize the ability "Bear Form" to provide a means of increased threat generation and damage mitigation. Bear tanks receive a large increase to attack power from their form and don't receive bonuses from their weapon's damage or attack speed (unless talented). This means that Bears can focus more on the stats or special effects on their weapons rather than their numerical damage values. Bears cannot parry or block (even while holding a shield), so they have to rely entirely on armor and dodge to mitigate incoming damage. Itemization with Bears is noticeably different since they don't benefit from parry or block rating and gain 20% (90% with Dire Bear form at level 40) increased armor from cloth and leather items. These factors make gearing for a Bear tank always interesting as some pieces which would be worthless for D-Stance tanks are suddenly viable or even Best In Slot (BIS) for Bear tanks. Bear tanks may either use 2h, dual wield, or 1h + shield depending on preference and setup. Some Bear tanks even go for Titan's Grip to dual wield two 2h weapons, although the viability is somewhat questionable. (Note that the shield 15% threat generation multiplier and armor value still applies for bears even though they cannot block). Bear tanks are passively immune to polymorph, which makes them ideal for bosses like Jin'do the Hexxer in Zul'Gurub who routinely hex or polymorph the tank. Bear tanks can also shift in and out of Bear Form to clear any slowing or movement impairing effects, however this does make them more vulnerable to damage while shifting. Comparable to the flat 10% reduced damage taken on defensive stance, Bear form has a talent "Protector of the Pact" (Feral Druid Tree, Level 45, Left) which provides a similar damage reduction (12%) for 3 Talent Essence (TE). A noticeable disadvantage of a Bear tank is that using many abilities will pull you out of Bear form. Unless an ability has "Usable while Shapeshifted" or specifies requirement of Bear form, using that ability will most likely pull you out of Bear form (which can be dangerous as a tank). In this way, Bear Form is a more "on rails" classless experience (although there are still many abilities, like intercept, disengage, and totems, which are cross-class and can be used in Bear Form). Choosing which abilities to draft while leveling a Bear is easier than other tanks because of the shifting restraint. Core Starting Abilities # Bear Form. In order to be a Bear tank, you must have Bear Form. When optimally drafting for Bear Form, it is recommended to "reroll" your draft selection if Bear Form is not offered as one of the three options in the first selection. This is because certain other key abilities are unable to be drafted until you have Bear Form (i.e. "locked behind" Bear Form). If Bear Form is offered as one of the three first options, it will always appear as the first (leftmost) of those three options (making it significantly easier to filter through and find a viable start). # Growl. For most raid boss encounters, you will need to swap threat or acquire threat quickly on new targets. Growl offers a guaranteed way for you to accomplish this task. Although there are several other Growl-like abilities which share a cooldown with Growl (like Distracting Shot, Righteous Defense, etc) which you may be able to pick up later on, these abilities will pull you out of bear form to use and so it is not recommended to use or take them. Unlike defensive stance tanks, there is no "viable" alternative to Growl for Bear Form. If you are not considering tanking raids or are more focused on open world or small-group content, you may not need a Growl or a Growl-like ability. Growl is off the Global Cooldown (GCD) and is also a ranged ability. You must have Bear Form before being able to roll Growl. # Swipe. This is the bread and butter to a Bear Tank and is why many chose to go Bear in the first place. Swipe is on the the GCD but has no cooldown. This means you are only limited by the GCD and your rage to determine how often you can cause AoE damage and threat. A bear with swipe has one of the most effective AoE abilities available for fresh characters. Swipe naturally combos well with Poisons, which can proc their effects on each target hit by Swipe. This makes a Bear Tank a great choice for a Poison Skill Card, especially when considering that most of the Bear Form core can be drafted at level one before using the Skill Card. Additional Starting Abilities You may want to consider starting with some of the following abilities as a Bear Form tank due to their utility: # Charge. This ability offers a strong means of initial engagement and mobility. In contrast to Defensive Stance tanks, Bear Form tanks have the option of spending 2 ae and 1 te at level 60 (as part of their 5ae) to pick up Feral Charge. Feral Charge, in addition to having similar range & rage generation, also serves as an interrupt. Unlike other interrupts (Kick, Wind Shear, Counterspell, etc), Feral Charge is one of the two which do NOT break Bear Form to use (the other being Bash). Feral Charge, however, has a minimum range and so must be used accordingly. Since both skills share a cooldown, Charge is mostly obsolete for Bear Tanks, mainly useful for leveling or if one desires not to spend 2ae for Feral Charge at 60. # Frost Armor. This ability not only offers an increase to armor, but also slows the movement and attack speed of monsters who attack you. Bears, without poisons, do not have an easy way of applying slows or attack speed slows to groups of mobs. Their main method of applying slows is through Maul or Mangle in conjunction with the "Infected Wounds" (Feral Druid, Level 45, Right) talent. Due to the single target nature of these abilities, Frost Armor is a strong option for applying AoE attack speed reductions. # Righteous Fury. When talented, this ability can provide 6% passive damage reduction for the efficient cost of 3 talent essence. In addition, the bonus to threat generation can help with maintaining threat against players who push the limits of damage. Although not as effective for non-holy schools, it is strong for any tank who is undergeared or is struggling to hold threat. # Evasion. With 50% dodge for 10 (12 at rank 2) seconds, Evasion is the single most powerful mitigation cooldown available that does not break Bear Form to use. Considering the talent "Natural Reaction" (Feral Druid, Level 35, Left) grants 10 rage every time you dodge while in Bear Form, Evasion will often make & keep you rage capped when fighting multiple mobs or enemies. Bear Form is unable to use Deterrence or Divine Protection without breaking form, making Evasion even more important to a Bear tank. # Summon Imp. Your friendly demonic companion offers an additional stamina aura as well as a fire shield which reflects damage back to attackers. The damage of your imp is minimal later in the game, but can assist with pulling or soaking mechanics in select scenarios. The only downside is there is a strong likelihood that someone else in your group may have an imp due to their use in caster dps, making the stamina aura and reflective shield less valuable as a whole. # Maul. Similar to Heroic Strike for Defensive Stance tanks, Maul replaces your auto attack and has a built-in threat generation multiplier. Skills, passives, or gear which grant effects on auto attacks (like Windfury, Seal of Command, or Ironfoe) do not work in combination with Maul. Maul's damage is increased by bleed damage multipliers. Two sources for a bear tank (which do not stack: use one or the other) are Mangle and Trauma (Arms Warrior, Level 35, Right). Either one provides a 30% increase to Maul damage, where Mangle is on demand and Trauma procs on your melee attack criticals. # Tame Beast. Due to the difficulty of a Bear to acquire interrupts or stuns which do not break Bear Form to use, some players recommend starting with Tame Beast so that you could tame either a Gorilla to guarantee an interrupt, a Bat for a stun, or Bird for an attack power reduction. In Draft mode, Tame Beast costs 6ae, Bear form 2ae, and the player only starts with 8ae. This means you can start with Tame Beast and Bear Form, but will have NO other abilities. Tame Beast must be learned at the first draft selection and will always appear in the first (leftmost) slot if offered. As a result, Bear Form MUST be learned second. Once learned, Tame Beast cannot be removed by Hands of Fate (improving the usefulness of HoF). Since there are certain abilities which are "locked behind" Tame Beast, it may be more difficult to acquire other abilities you want while leveling. It is notably easier to level with Tame Beast and it is more forgiving for new players to start with a Beast. Off-Meta Tanks Warning: Some people may consider these tanks not viable and/or will not support your playstyle. Project Ascension is a classless server, and as such non-traditional forms of play have emerged. These tanks can excel when properly built and played in scenarios which play to their strengths. Caster Tanks These tanks usually involve a start similar to a caster dps, with the notable exception of using both Defensive Stance and Righteous Fury to generate threat and reduce damage taken. Caster tanks typically need to use talents or abilities (like Concentration Aura) to reduce spell pushback from taking damage. Smart use of cooldowns like Barkskin or Icy Veins can provide windows of free-casting to build threat or heal oneself. Itemization is often difficult for caster tanks because spell damage is common on cloth while more defensive stats are found on plate. Caster tanks can wield either a traditional Staff/1h+orb/DW caster setup, a 1h + shield, or even Staff + off hand with Titian's Grip. Caster tanks can use Taunt, Distracting Shot, or any number of threat-forcing abilities. Taunt could be picked up as an additional starting ability. Caster tanks may recommend that their group members use "Fanaticism" (Retribution Paladin, Level 35, Middle) to reduce their own threat generation. Caster Tanks excel in situations like the Twin-Emperors in AQ40, where bosses are immune or highly resistant to physical damage and traditional tanking methods. Summon Felguard + Soul Link + Fel Synergy (Warlock Demonology Talent, Level 10, Right) offers a powerful method for generating additional threat and reducing damage taken (since your demon takes a portion of your damage for you and your damaging spells heal your demon), but requires investment and a soul shard generating ability to pull off. Some common Caster Tank Builds: # Holy Caster Tank Example Start: (Smite, Righteous Fury, Defensive Stance, Taunt). While leveling, look for Holy Fire (burst threat), Consecration (AoE sustained threat), and Exorcism (burst threat) starting at level 20. Holy Wrath (burst AoE threat) is a powerful AoE cooldown which can be found starting at level 50. Holy Shock is a versatile cooldown for either self healing or burst threat which can be talented at level 60 for 2ae if not found while leveling. Power Word: Shield, Renew, and Flash of Light are powerful self-healing options available which scale off many of the same or similar talents & REs that you are already taking. This Tank-Caster has strong self-sustain and burst single-threat, but struggles in itemization and mitigation. Without Consecration and/or Holy Wrath, this build lacks AoE threat. # Metamorphosis Caster Tank Example Start: (Evasion, Righteous Fury, Defensive Stance, Taunt). Look for Searing Pain starting at level 16. This will be your main source of single target threat generation. Rain of Fire (at level 20 onward) or Helfire (at level 30 onward) are your main sources of AoE threat. This build has the incredibly powerful Metamorphosis cooldown available at level 60. When properly talented & REs, the cooldown can become lowered (to the point of permanent sustain if using the legendary RE). While in Metamorphosis Demon Form, this tank is extremely powerful and is not to be underestimated. # Kiting Tank Example Start: (Frostbolt, Righteous Fury, Defensive Stance, Taunt). While leveling, look for Frost Nova at level 10, Blizzard, Blink, and Disengage at level 20, as well as Cone of Cold at level 26 and Frost Trap at 28. Arcane Explosion is also a strong pickup to deal damage and generate threat. Utilizing slowing effects & mobility skills from the Mage & Hunter Trees, this build excels at tanking large groups of melee-hitting mobs while simultaneously performing respectable damage. Aspect of the Cheetah (from level 10), if properly used, can also be strong for this build. From open world high-risk farming to tanking whelps on Onyxia, this build performs well in skilled hands. Cat Form Tanks If you've read this far, you probably deserve to hear about the oddest form of tank in Project Ascension. Revolving around the Primal Tenacity and Predatory Instincts passives to provide massive damage reduction while stunned and from AoE effects, the Cat tank has it's niche to shine in places where the majority of damage taken is while stunned and/or from AoE breath-like attacks. There exists an RE which increases threat generated in Cat Form, but many will find this to not be strong enough to hold threat. Mangle exists as a strong method for dealing damage in Cat, but the lack of additional threat-multipliers means a Cat Build is starved for talent points when trying to balance mitigation and threat. Common starts include Righteous Fury, Evasion, and Charge, focusing on gaining Cat Form at level 20 and developing further. Summon Felguard + Soul Link is a strong method for Cats to gain additional mitigation, but also requires picking up a soul shard generating ability while leveling. As is probably obvious, the amount of abilities required to draft while leveling a cat tank make it an extremely difficult build to create in Draft Mode. Category:Draft Category:Tank Category:Guide